


From Scream To Smile

by op-sheepy (opsheepy)



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Monsters Inc. Fusion, Attempt at Humor, Bad Jokes, Bad Puns, Child Monkey D. Luffy, Except Luffy who is a child, Friendship, Gen, corporate shenanigans, they're all monsters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 06:55:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28467159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opsheepy/pseuds/op-sheepy
Summary: The monsters at the SMILE Factory (née SCREAM Corp) learn how to be funny.Law and Kid may be having some difficulties adjusting.Gift forKidLaw Exchange 2020
Relationships: Eustass Kid & Trafalgar D. Water Law
Comments: 14
Kudos: 42
Collections: KidLaw Exchange 2020





	From Scream To Smile

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ossicle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ossicle/gifts).



[ _ Screams bad. Laughter good. Initiative to require all other companies to follow the newly signed bill regarding the… continued on page 5 _ ]

Trafalgar Law, snow leopard seal monster, top scarer of SCREAM Corp., the premier power company in their side of the monster world, lowered his paper and uttered the one word that summarized the situation he was in, "Fuck."

* * *

The screeching sound of the microphone filled the vast auditorium forcing those with ears to cover them, still the conversations picked up, distressed ululations from aggrieved employees forced to skip their morning coffee to hear the urgent morning announcement. 

"Uhm, if everyone would just settle down, please," the monster at the stage fidgeted with his floral patterned headband, "Our CEO has some important announcements." Normally, most would have the decency to at least pretend to listen to what the bespectacled pink pompom monster says, equally because he was well-liked and because it made people feel bad when he was visibly sad—something management exploited too much, if one were to ask Law. There was no settling this particular crowd, though, so the fluffball quickly left the stage, not wanting to get caught in the imminent explosion sure to follow.

"SILENCE!" The monsters hastily obeyed, partially to avoid angering their CEO further because not all of them were fireproof, mostly because they didn't actually want to lose their jobs no matter what they thought of their rates. 

Off to the side of the stage was their COO, bent forward, flickering his top light on their CEO. A warning, Law guessed, judging by the stiffening then forced inhalation in response. There was also an effort to remove the glower but it wasn't too successful. If he wasn't in the same predicament, he would have found amusement in the literally hotheaded monster trying to rein in his temper in what was probably an attempt to set precedence for the upcoming changes. The COO had no such qualms if the barely contained snickering from the flashlight was anything to go by.

Calm and satisfied, as evidenced by the active volcano on his head becoming dormant once more, the CEO began.

"As you may well know, recent events have prompted the need for several changes to take effect in our company." He was, of course, referring to the recent legislations requiring all power companies to now run on laughter and banning the harvesting of screams.

"The first would be a change in our company name. Our company reputation will plummet if we keep our current one. The board and I have agreed that, henceforth, Scream Corp. shall now be called the SMILE Factory." 

Law grimaced, he knew exactly which pink feathered board director came up with that name. He could just picture the bird monster throwing his head back and cackling about it.

"Now, there will obviously be challenges." No shit. There was a reason Scream Corp, holder of numerous scare records, was the top power company around. The scariest monsters worked there. "But all of you are the elite of the elite. There is no challenge that we cannot overcome. We encourage everyone to have fun and be funny. The ban against clowning around has been lifted—," a cheer is heard from the back, Buggy had always argued that that policy was discriminatory, "—and no one is allowed to take things seriously." He said seriously.

"We will be spreading laughter to all those unwitting children and crushing our competitions under our heel."

There was a rousing roar of applause and affirmation—enthusiastic chest beatings, thunderous roars, snapping teeth. Law wondered whether everyone was missing the point.

"Your floor managers and team leaders will discuss the specifics of our company's new strategy including the mandatory training everyone will undertake." 

Just as Akainu was about to leave, a spot light flickered rapidly. The flashlight monster waggled his brows leading Akainu to sigh and retrieve a piece of paper from within his flower patterned suit—how the monster was even able to wear clothes was anyone's guess considering the ever present lava seeping through the cracks of his exterior.

"In the spirit of these new changes, I will now be telling a joke. I will require a volunteer." Akainu searched the crowd while Law, clawed hand tugging at his hat, resolutely avoided eye contact as though doing so would magically turn him invisible. "Ah yes, one of our top sca—," flicker, flicker,"—performers." Law's heart plummeted. 

"Eustass Kid, come up." Relieved, Law looked up just in time to see Kid lower his metallic arm and trot towards the stage. Given the bull monster's size, a lot of the monsters had to give way with the smaller ones careful to avoid any of Kid's four legs accidentally stepping on them. He flashed a grin at the crowd once he reached the center of the stage, sharp teeth and golden nose ring glinting under the stage lights. 

_ This should be good _ , Law thought despite being skeptical. Akainu telling a joke already felt like one and it seemed he wasn't the only one who thought so judging by their COO trying to stifle his giggles. Really, Kizaru looked like he was having a field day, not at all like someone deeply concerned about the future of their company.

"Are you ready?" Akainu asked, looking down at his paper. "I came up with this one myself. This one is what is known as a knock, knock joke. Are you familiar?"

More snickering from their COO. The rest of the monsters held their breath in anticipation.

Kid, who was very suddenly no longer looking too sure of himself, could only nod hesitantly.

"Let us begin. Knock, knock."

"Who's there?"

"The sun." Law, not liking the obvious delight in Kizaru's eyes, was sorely tempted to cover his ears.

"The sun, who?" Kid looked like he wanted to go back to his seat badly while Akainu almost looked excited.

"The sun burned you." Akainu gave Kid an expectant look. Everyone else was processing.

Several beats of silence.

_ Huh? _

"Ha. Get it. Because the sun burns you. It's a giant ball of fire in the sky." Akainu explained proudly as Kizaru burst out laughing, slapping a hand on where his knees would have been had flashlights any. Law didn't think he was laughing at the joke so much as everyone's collective misery. "Also it can't knock. Hah."

"Ha, ha, ha." Coby urged, pronouncing each syllable while turning his round begging eyes towards the crowd as he fidgeted with his headband.

Kid pretended to have a coughing fit.

_ Well, things were off to a fantastic start _ , Law thought sarcastically, already dreading the coming days. Bright side, Doflamingo loses money if the company tanked. Not so bright, he'd lose his job and be at his feathery godfather's mercy anyway. Joy.

* * *

_ Two weeks later… _

Law groaned and pressed his face further onto the cafeteria table. He didn't care that his whiskers would probably end up bent at odd angles all over his face—maybe that would end up looking silly and help with his situation.

A tray is placed beside his head prompting him to crane his head in time to see Bonney seat herself beside him. "What up cat fish?" The pink monster greeted—and why were a lot of monsters he knew pink anyway? It wasn't really a very intimidating color, was it? He contemplated painting himself pink too, then scrunched his face at the thought of matching Doflamingo. 

"Nawf whaf's that face for?" Bonney said, mouth full, as she scarfed down pizza, slice after slice. Law watched, fascinated, as the food disappeared in her tiny mouth, tracking its progress as it dissolved through her semi-translucent gelatinous form.

When she was done, she looked over at Law and nudged him. "Transition not going well, I take it?"

Law just groaned again, lifting his head a bit and letting it drop at the table. Bonney winced. "That bad, huh?" She wasn't really a field agent but being part of the operations team, she'd seen the disastrous attempts of their 'elite of the elite' at comedy. Ironically, it was some of the funniest shit she'd seen. 

Most other companies dealt with the issue by shuffling resources, reassigning monsters to other children or even other jobs. Their very selective company, however, couldn't readily afford such strategies given their limited manpower. It also didn't help that most monsters at Scre–the SMILE Factory were very prideful, unwilling to concede and accept failure. So field monsters had to convince children they'd been terrorizing to suddenly find them funny. Pffft.

Though Bonney found everything terribly amusing, she also felt bad for her semi-aquatic friend. Reaching out an amorphous hand, she took off his hat and scratched behind his cat ears, pleased as his cone-shaped tail swung lazily. "Don't feel too bad. At least you're not the only one having trouble adjusting." 

As though to prove her point, they heard Kid ranting to Killer a few tables over. They couldn't tell what the giant golden hairball's exact reaction was but with how his mask kept turning upwards towards the heavens, Law could only assume that he wasn't too amused either. 

Law seethed. Normally, he'd be finding amusement in his biggest rival's misery but Kid was one of the few who were in the same deep shit as Law was in—and, really, it surprised no one more than him that most of the monsters were able to adapt in some form, not perfectly, but they were at least making progress.

Not everyone could retract their claws and transform from nightmare creature to huggable gerbil–hamster—whatever the hell Killer was under all that messy knot of tangled hair. Law lamented how his ears were the only fluffy part of him, something children couldn't appreciate just as readily since he towered over them by a whole fucking lot (He wasn't going to remember how that one attempt ended–the one with him crouching down and crawling towards one, a friendly smile on his face, nope, didn't happen.) For once, he cursed his spotted streamlined fur despite it being low-maintenance.

"I've seen Kid at the simulations. He wasn't really bad. It's just that he's just naturally scary. He starts laughing and next thing you know, child's screaming their head off begging him not to eat them." Bonney snorted. "No one even knew that the training robot was capable of pissing in their bed."

Law knew, of course. Happened when he tried telling his own joke that one time. Dismemberment was apparently not funny despite Robin trying to stifle her giggles from all fifty or so of her mouths when he did a test run. A shame really, as he thought it was really good. He had even smiled at the end of his delivery, a full-blown one with all of his canines on display.

"You know, you could always ask to get new assignments. Akainu likes you enough." 

He could. And really, despite appearances, he wasn't really as attached to being top employee especially in a company directly under his godfather. But…

"It's that kid again, isn't it?" Bonney asked, amused at his stubborn silence. "You really are a softie, you know that?"

Laughing at his answering glare, she ruffled his head and winked. "Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me."

"Whatever." He rolled his eyes and slapped her hand away, though he couldn't help that slight lift on one of his cheeks. Truly, he was grateful for his friend making him feel better but, unfortunately, his break time was over.

He sighed, "I have to go, now. Akainu called me in for a meeting." Three guesses on what that one's about. He gave a casual wave goodbye to her as he got up and walked away, but not without knocking her hat off her head. 

"Hey! Jerk!" 

He smiled.

* * *

Law hated meetings. It was one of the benefits of his top status that he was exempted from most of them, being debriefed on anything important through memos. He never had a problem with performance reviews, though, other than getting tired of hearing the same commendations. But now he had to suffer through both because of his less than stellar performance. He had to sit in Akainu's office, on one of his too small guest chairs, trying not to let on that he wasn't really listening and instead looking around at the added books lying on the desk between them— _ How to Tell a Joke For Dummies, The Laughter Within, Why So Serious? A Comprehensive Guide to Unleashing Your Inner Funny Man _ —Law was forced to listen to Akainu, of all monsters, tell him how he failed at being funny. And wasn't that a funny cosmic joke at his expense. Haha.

"I can see you're having trouble adjusting." Understatements. Law eyed the highlighted word in one of the open books. Seemed that Akainu was seriously trying, which Law simultaneously hated and respected so he bit back his retort and just nodded.

Akainu continued, standing up with his hands behind his back and facing the glass walls opposite his desk, "Still the company has faith in you. Even the board has expressed their belief you'll be able to deliver." Oh, Law was willing to bet it was more that Doflamingo found his flailing hilarious so he convinced everyone else. Bastard had called the day before, cackling into the phone as he read reports on Law's progress. He could hear Cora-san apologizing in the background, though he sounded suspiciously like he was also stifling his giggles. The traitor. 

"After all, Buggy was one of our poorer performers and look at him now. If he could turn things around, I am sure someone with superior work ethics like you could pull through." Law took a sharp intake of breath and held it.  _ Flattered _ , he told himself. That's what he should feel. Akainu never gives out compliments freely and they were always meant.  _ But, but, bu _ t…he couldn't help it.

"Buggy is a literal fu—" with extreme effort, he bit down on his tongue,"—funny clown." He exclaimed, trailing off lamely because of the correction. Things would be worse if he got fired from insubordination. He'd never get the chance to set things right with the kid.

Akainu just stared obviously not getting it. Before he could seriously contemplate how to explain that clowns were supposed to be inherently funny—ok, so maybe Law kinda gets that Akainu didn't get it because he didn't think clowns were funny either—the door swung open and Eustass Kid came shuffling in.

"Ah, perfect. Take a seat, Mr. Eustass." Kid frowned at the name as well as the lack of chairs suited for quadrupeds. He made a mental note to follow up on his complaint to HR regarding workplace accessibility for less traditionally shaped monsters.

Law was a bit confused, he hasn't been dismissed yet so he could only assume that Akainu wanted to speak to both him and Kid at the same time.

"Right, so I've already discussed both of your performance reviews. What's left now is our intervention. You both were our top employees and we all still have high hopes on what you can accomplish. According to our research, humor can be better achieved through cooperation. It is better when one element could cover the other's weakness. As such, I've determined that the best course of action is to pair you two together. From now on, you'll be working as partners." Akainu said levelly, ignoring the distress on both monsters' faces. It was no secret, the rivalry between the two, so some apprehension was expected.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" The outburst surprisingly came from Law, whose last thread of patience finally snapped. 

"Hey!" Kid wasn't exactly thrilled to be working with him either but he wasn't being an asshole about it. Law spared him a glance and shook his head, frustrated, "It's not that!" He turned to Akainu, not bothering to mask his incredulity by slamming his hands on the desk. "We are the two most singularly unfunny monsters in the company. The absolute scariest. And the solution you have is to pair us up?" 

Kid grimaced as he saw the other's point. As he'd learned over the past couple of days, his problem wasn't one to go away with just him barreling through it with his best effort. Apparently humor required a little finesse, at least that's what Killer said.

Calmly, Akainu flipped his open book to a particular page and turned it towards the two.

"It's a duo act. It never fails."

Kid scanned the contents of the page as Law sputtered, mouth opening and closing soundlessly.

"Let me reiterate, gentlemen, that you two in particular, have always been our star employees. It would reflect poorly on both morale and company image if you didn't improve." Akainu paused to let it sink in. Law flopped back down on his chair, defeated. "You will be spending time studying your more adjusted colleagues. The rest of your time, you would use to train and study as you see fit. At the end of the week, you will have your final assessment together with a child of your choosing. Failing to generate the required power output would mean revocation of your field agent status and reassignment to other roles. Any questions?"

Kid lifted his eyes from the book and asked. "Which one of us is the straight man?" 

Law glared venomously. It was so effective at delivering the promise of bloody murder that he almost got another commendation from Akainu until the magma monster remembered that anything not involving smiling was now frowned upon so he gave him a warning instead.

* * *

The two of them walked side by side headed towards the training rooms. Kid was slowing his walk so his bipedal partner could keep up. Law was glaring at the ground the entire way.

While the two certainly considered each other as rivals, often exchanging insults when passing each other by, neither would admit to holding a more than decent amount of respect towards the other. They would most certainly deny that they considered having the most fun at work when they were trying to out do each other on the scare floor. And while Law firmly believed that pairing them together was a whole other level of stupid, from a logical stand point, he would begrudgingly admit that there were worse options out there.

"So, how'd the meeting go." For instance, exhibit one.

"Fuck off, Apoo." Kid spat. 

"Aww. Don't be like that previous top performer…" Apoo said while leaning against the wall. He was pretending to examine his nails, turning the tines this way and that, while producing ascending and descending chords. Law found it very annoying along with his goofy piano teeth.

"The cards say that there was less than a one percent chance for their meeting to have been favorable." Exhibit number two said. Alright, Hawkins wasn't really as bad except he made Law roll his eyes too much and, really, if ever there was a monster who failed at being funny on all fronts, it would have been Hawkins. The straw man was worse than Akainu with letting jokes fly over his head. Everyone considered Law to be a bit disturbed with his dark brand of humor but he would like to point out that the only time he'd ever seen Hawkins' face twist into a semblance of a smile was during an offhand discussion that involved torture devices. The only reason the scarecrow wasn't performing as bad as they were? His whole magic schtick with his cards. 

Kid caught his eye and they seemed to be having similar thoughts with the way the other exaggeratedly rolled his eyes and mimed, "Is this your card?" 

Law bit back a smile as Kid grinned mockingly at Hawkins who was now glaring.

"Now, now, no need to be hostile to each other." Drake, ever the pacifist, said just as he entered the room. "We're all in the same team after all." While Law found Drake pretty ok to get along with, he would forever resent the fact that he had things too easy during this entire ordeal. Apparently, children thought dinosaurs were cool by default so all it took for him to win them over was to wear a nice little hat. Didn't matter that his sharp teeth were glistening from saliva as he smiled at them, dinosaurs were neat with their funny way of walking and their short stubby arms and their giant heads and their tiny little cocked hats.

"Alright team, it's time for our daily standup." Drake gestured for them to follow. Law held back a groan. He hated the standups, one of Kizaru's ideas apparently. Named after the comic routine, they stand around in a circle and take turns telling a joke with the others rating them with a score card. It was about as disastrous as one would expect.

"Alright, everyone ready?" Everyone nodded. "It's Kid's turn to start."

"Oh, I got one. Why didn't the monster eat the clown?" Kid asked the person next to him, who happened to be Buggy.

"I don't think I like where this is going. Why?"

"Because he tasted funny." Buggy eyed Kid's teeth, just one of which was already longer than half his face, paled and then inched slowly away. The entire thing got a snort out of Law which he tried to cover up by clearing his throat.

"Good try. Alright, I'll go next." Drake cleared his throat. "So I named my pet T-Rex, Bryan. Any idea why?"

Law shut his eyes already seeing where Drake was going. "Why?"

"So I could say 'Come, Brian.'" Drake finished proudly. When everyone proceeded to just blink at him, Drake rubbed his jaw with one of his short arms—which produced a funnier image than that joke if anyone asked Law. "I suppose the joke is all wrong. T-rex, after all, come from the Cretaceous Period and not Cambrian."

Drake nodded, satisfied with his explanation. No one bothered correcting his misconception. He then nodded at Apoo who rubbed his hands excitedly, producing chiming noises which had everyone wincing. 

Law hated Apoo's turn the most not because he had the worst jokes—they all had their moments—but because he did that stupid drum sequence after his punch lines.

"Alright, what do you call a bard using a tined instrument?"

"What?"

"A Kalimbard!"  _ ba dum tis _ . Law gritted his teeth.

"I have another. What do you call a group of Kalimbards?"

A collective groan was heard. Hawkins, not reading the atmosphere for the hundredth time, asked, "What?"

"A Kalimband!"  _ ba dum tis _ . 

"Make him stop, please." Perona begged, her body a sheet flickering in and out of view beside Law.

"Hey, you're just jealous."

Law scoffed. "Of what? That your jokes are bad? Worse than bad, they're—" 

"Kalimbad." Kid finished. There was a pregnant pause in which Law met Kid's eyes. Then everyone burst out laughing. Everyone but Hawkins who still looked confused and Apoo who was indignant.

"That was a good one!"

Drake turned to them. "Hey, you guys make a great team." Which had Kid grinning and Law burying his face in his hat, more than a little mortified.

* * *

It wasn't too long after that when Law had a realization about the final assessment that Akainu mentioned. His only motivation in continuing as a field agent in the midst of all the chaos was to meet that one kid at least one more time. Pass or fail, it appeared that he'd get his chance through the actual test itself. So Law's plan was to meet the kid, then fail so he could get that nice desk job and stop being part of the circus. 

He and Kid continued their training through the week by reading the materials Akainu provided and observing the others do their thing. Without the pressure of needing to succeed himself, he found the failed attempts very entertaining and the time he spent with Kid to be quite enjoyable.

Over the course of their partnership, he'd gotten used to Kid's quips and remarks following his comments. It wasn't even just about their comedy act. Being forced to work together, Law discovered that he and Kid really did make a good team. Whether it was putting Apoo in his place or exchanging their ideas, they complemented each other really well. 

It was already the day before their final assessment and the two of them were in the simulation room for a pre-assessment dry run. It had started well enough. All Law had to do was stay quiet most of the time, say something in a deadpan, then Kid followed up with the punchline. It worked extremely well, he was loath to admit as Akainu looked pretty smug about it already. Then Kid accidentally stepped on a 1x1 Lego brick which managed to get stuck between the cleft of his hooves. Law winced in sympathy–those 1x1s really did hurt the most.

Naturally, Kid grimaced, mouth twisting in pain. Unfortunately, any expression on Kid's face tended to look, well… monstrous especially when it involved those many teeth and the occasional unconscious breath of fire. The training robot's eyes watered and Kid looked at Law helplessly. Law shrugged because what exactly did Kid expect him to do? The training robot shrieked and the blanket covers grew suspiciously wet.

A loud beep played out, the system sound for a failed simulation, before Akainu's voice was heard over the speakers. "Mr. Eustass, I hope that by tomorrow you'll have better control of your expressions." Some shuffling noises and then the machines powering down. Kid and Law were left alone in the room.

"Well that went about as well as expected." Law lifted the blankets by the ends to take a peak. "You think this thing's broken?" It was doing the whole bed wetting routine a little too much recently. 

Kid never stayed silent for too long especially if given a chance to make a smart ass remark which was how Law knew that Kid was actually upset.

"What's wrong?" 

"You don't care about the assessment results." 

Law took a surprised step back, both at Kid's accurate observation as well as the disappointment in his tone. He narrowed his eyes, suddenly defensive. 

"You don't know that."

"You aren't the type to just shrug when things go wrong. You would have done anything–gotten angry, yelled. The fact that you did nothing means you don't care." Perhaps if Kid had yelled, Law wouldn't have been so speechless. But Kid just looked at him with a resigned sad look. "I don't expect it to mean the same to you but being able to go out there matters to me." 

Kid was already walking away by the time Law began forming a reply. He didn't even get a chance to say it as the other just waved and kept walking. 

He wanted to say that Kid was being unfair, it wasn't like their results were going to be the same. Not like Law intended for him to fail. It wasn't like they both had to pass. He glared at the training robot that seemed to be staring at him accusingly. 

* * *

Cora-san happened to be visiting Law that night. The black flamingo rarely got a chance to visit Law anymore so he would normally be more accommodating but Law wasn't really in the mood to do much except to act like nothing was bothering him—because of course he wasn't bothered, he wasn't even friends with Kid. 

Unfortunately for him, his former guardian had always been adept at knowing when something was up despite his best efforts to seem fine.

"Alright, are you going to tell me what's wrong or am I going to have to force it out of you?"

Law briefly contemplated lying to the figure staring him down as he sulked on his living room floor. "It's just work related stuff."

Cora-san moved to sit beside him but having two left feet—which Law couldn't tell given that all webbed feet looked to have the same orientation to him—tripped over air before righting himself.

"You know Doffy reads your reports to us, right? We know things have been going well the past week." Law cursed his meddlesome godfather in his head. "In fact, according to today's report, it's your current partner that had an issue." A feathered wing took the hat off his head and set it aside.

Resigned because he knew Cora-san would never drop it, Law decided to tell him. "My… coworker is upset because I don't care about the results of the performance review." Before Cora-san could level him a disapproving look, he continued, "It's not like our results are dependent on each other's."

"Listen Law, you couldn't possibly believe that, could you?"

Shaking his head at Law's confused look, Cora-san sighed. "The board has been following both of your progress for obvious reasons. Eustass Kid, despite his enthusiasm, had only started showing promise with the changes when he got paired with you. You're right, your results won't affect each other's but your performance certainly will." He gave Law a meaningful look. "Now imagine finally showing some progress on something you've been working really hard on only to find out the partner you were supposed to rely on didn't really care?"

Law averted his eyes. No one could make him feel quite as guilty as Cora-san does. 

"Well, I guess Doffy won our bet." Cora-san gave another sigh as he stood.

"What bet?"

"I bet that you wouldn't be remaining on the field. He mentioned that you were probably too proud to quit. Of course, he was wrong about the motivation and I would have won if you hadn't made a new friend."

Before he could protest that statement, Cora-san handed him a lion plushie, worn and with obvious stitches. It was the one Law kept under his hat. The one he wanted to return to Luffy.

"You were never good at making friends but you could never leave alone those who start considering you as one."

Law held the plush carefully, not wanting to reap the seams he'd painstakingly stitched back together. It had taken countless nights to sew the ripped arm off. His clawed hands had difficulty holding the needle. Often it would bend or get stuck on his hand. He had only recently finished it when news broke out about their main power source and operations in the company were put on hold.

It would seem he had more than one thing to set right and he would only get one chance.

"Good luck tomorrow, Law." Cora-san said as he prepared to leave.

"Thank you, Cora-san."

* * *

The assessment had already started and Kid was late. The door was ready. The cannisters they had to fill lined up. All for nothing if Kid didn't show up soon because their one hour timer was already running. Law had hoped he would have time to talk before everything but that might no longer be possible. Things weren't completely hopeless, though, since Robin and Bonney volunteered to retrieve Kid.

As he waited, Killer approached him. "You know he was really happy when you started working together. Thought he still had a chance to keep going out there." Law resisted the urge to roll his eyes. A bit too late for the guilt tripping as he had already decided to do something about it. 

"He's probably not gonna be cooperative at first." Killer warned.

Law did suspect as much which was why he had wanted to talk first. It was fine because he had a plan. Sort of.

"Lookie what I found." Bonney said in a sing song tone, dragging Kid along by his nose ring. Kid yelped as he followed, needing to bend at the torso because of the sizable difference in height.

Law thanked Bonney as she left. He then turned to Kid and lead him right in front of the door. Kid's glare faltered when he saw the fake mustache Law was wearing. "Listen, you were right. The assessment results don't really matter to me. But the assessment itself does. There's something I need to do beyond that door and I may need your help to do it."

Kid studied Law intently, "What is it you need to do?"  _ And what's up with the mustache? _ , Kid wanted to add but Law looked serious so he held back.

"You'll just see when we get there."

Without waiting for a reaction, Law opened the door and pushed Kid inside. Kid could have easily resisted but the look on Law's face along with the silly looking mustache had him curious.

The room was dark save for a little night light by the bedside. On the bed, a tiny figure was under the blankets. A single eye could be seen peeking out.

"T-torao?"

"No, it's someone else. I was sent by him to give you something." Law said in a deeper voice. Kid glanced between Law and the lump on the bed, not really sure if Law was doing some kind of act. And who the hell was Torao?

"Go away! I already have a monster under my bed." Then Luffy covered himself completely and faced the other way.

Law should have known that Luffy wouldn't react as he expected upon seeing him again. He thought the boy would be crying and screaming in terror—like the last time they parted. He sighed and removed the mustache. "It's me Luffy. I was wearing a disguise. Also, I already told you, monsters no longer hide under children's beds."

From behind, Kid looked at Law incredulously. That was an honest-to-goodness disguise?

"Torao!" Luffy hurriedly got out from under the blanket and ran to Law hugging one of his legs.

"I'm sorry I got scared of you last time when you aci—aki–a when you didn't mean to eat Sunny's arm. I got scared coz Shank's arm got eaten too but I know you're good and you didn't mean to eat it and please don't go away again." Luffy babbled almost too fast for Law to understand.

Law pried him off his leg and crouched down. "Accidentally. That's the word you were trying to say." Luffy nodded.

Law removed his hat and took out the lion plushie. "It's Sunny! And he has his arm back!" Luffy hugged Sunny close while Law chuckled.

"Do you need me to scream again? I've been practicing so I could do it very loud." Luffy grinned, proud. He had two less front teeth than Law remembered. 

"Actually, I don't need you to do that any more."

"Why? Are you going away again?" 

"No, just need something else now." Law added quickly as Luffy's eyes began to water.

Meanwhile, Kid could hardly believe what he'd just heard. He cleared his throat to remind Law that he was also there.

"Who's that?" Luffy moved closer and craned his neck up at Kid. "He's big."

"That's Eustass Kid. He's my new partner." Law glanced up at Kid as he made the introduction, checking whether Kid would protest. "If you promise to laugh at his jokes, he probably won't eat you." 

Kid grinned then caught himself slapping his arm over his mouth. He didn't want to scare the boy. But Law just shook his head and Luffy didn't seem fazed by his teeth at all.

"Hi. I'm Luffy!" The boy tilted his head then bent sideways from the waist, looking intently at his body. "Are you a cow?"

"Hey! I'm a bull!" Kid said indignantly, crossing his two front legs and glaring, forgetting to mind his expressions again. But the boy wasn't scared at all so Kid grinned wider. "Hey, kid. Wanna hear a joke?"

Kid and Law ended up with double the amount of laughter they required to pass the assessment. They both agreed to keep being partners and continued to work on their duo act. Law would be there to cover for Kid whenever children found his expression too scary and Kid was there to fill any awkward silences from Law. They always spent extra time with Luffy who readily shared his laughter with his monster friends even without the comedy routine.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I don't know how to even begin explaining this. There is a lot more about this that I had to cut because I wouldn't have been able to finish at all. And the amount of times I had to rework the idea whew. I hope you all enjoyed it at the very least.
> 
> This is my gift for [@chokefriends](https://chokefriends.tumblr.com/)  
> So, I may have also worked on the other two prompts especially the Gargoyle AU but it needed further development and polish. I'll probably end up publishing that one too some other time. Anyways, hope you had a great holiday and wishing you a fantastic new year. :)  
> 
> 
> Tumblr : [op-sheepy.tumblr.com](http://op-sheepy.tumblr.com)


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